Shota is surrounded by monsters!

Page 27

After leaving those words, Shota ran straight out the window. He felt it wasn't worth it to have worked so hard all night only to get a bowl of instant noodles. He figured he might as well see if there was anything filthy he could eat along the way.

"...Looking for me tonight?"

After Shota left, Rea realized that Shota meant he would come directly to her house.

"Great."

Rea clapped her hands happily, and then began to think about what to leave for Shota-chan tomorrow night.

Chapter Twenty-Three. Occasionally Discussing Physiological Issues

"Ring ring ring—"

Shota slammed the alarm clock, lifted the lid of the cup noodles, stirred it a couple of times with a fork, and then started eating it noisily.

"You impolite monster, could you please not spill all the sauce on my table when you're eating noodles?"

Senjougahara Hitagi was very annoyed by the monster who suddenly barged into her house to ask for hot water.

"Okay, okay... but I got hit twice when I climbed onto your balcony."

Although Shota had instant noodles, there seemed to be nothing in the house to heat water, and he had borrowed most of the kitchen utensils from Senjougahara. In order to experience the taste of instant noodles that he hadn't had in a long time, he had no choice but to run upstairs to borrow hot water from Senjougahara—luckily, the light in her room was still on. But as soon as he climbed onto her balcony, he was violently knocked down by Senjougahara, who was hanging clothes to dry.

"Oh dear, do you think I should invite some random man who suddenly shows up in my house in the middle of the night in for a cup of tea and then give up and say to him, 'Please enjoy me'?"

Senjougahara sat on the other side of the table, twirling a pen and writing something in her notebook. Hearing Shota's words, she looked up at him with disdain and said, "You're thirty years old now, not a child anymore. At least learn the most basic manners, right, Kousaka-kun? Or... is it too difficult for someone of your intelligence to learn to knock before entering?"

"...I admit my mistake."

It's alright to admit my mistake, Shota said, taking a sip of noodles. He then looked at Senjougahara and asked, "Still doing homework so late? By the way, where's your father?"

"Homework? Just previewing. Otherwise, if my grades fall behind and I don't get a scholarship, life will be very difficult. As for my father, he probably won't be back tonight."

"Yes, I see."

Shota nodded, then gulped down the soup and noodles in one go, saying, "Thank you for the treat. I'm going back to sleep now."

"You can get up now."

Senjougahara glanced at the time; it was already past midnight, and she lost all interest in continuing to read.

"Oh, right, there's also a monster in this building."

Shota thought for a moment. Now that Senjougahara had Spirit Vision, it was better to clarify some things with her first: "It's a foreign species, a bit gloomy, and smells musty. I guess it's the kind that likes the night. I've never actually seen it before. It seems to lock itself in its house all day. It probably won't attack people, right? Since it lives in this apartment, it must be a Lawful Youkai that's registered with the Nura Clan."

"This world is full of monsters, it's very dangerous. I've come to realize this very clearly. Also, Kousaka-kun, if it's possible, could you please use the main entrance?"

"...It's too far."

Senjougahara's house is just diagonally above her own; to get home from the window, she only needs to jump down.

"Bye, see you tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to Senjougahara, Shota went straight home. Just as he was about to crawl into bed to sleep, he noticed something strange outside the box where Mashiro was sleeping.

It is made of azure water, a miniature replica of itself in the form of a gluttonous beast.

It was looking at me with its bright, watery eyes.

No, it must be my imagination. It wasn't there five minutes ago. Shota shook his head, trying to make the phantom shake its head off.

"Meow."

The little water-based glutton opened its mouth and cried out. Seeing that Shota didn't react, it anxiously jumped onto Shota's bed, flicked its tail, and said, "Daddy."

Ah, it must be a hallucination! There's actually a slime monster calling me "Dad."

Shota figured he must be too tired today to be having this hallucination. So he ignored the slime monster and lay down on the bed.

Seeing that Shota still wouldn't pay attention to him, the slime monster got a little angry and crawled up to Shota's face, sticking out its wet tongue to lick him.

The hallucinations are getting more and more terrifying; they can even perfectly simulate this kind of tactile sensation...

Shota tilted his head and met the eyes of the slime monster.

"dad."

"Oh, are you my son?"

It really wasn't a hallucination.

Shota calmly sat up and looked at the slime monster waving its head in front of him, asking, "How old are you?"

"Three minutes."

The slime glutton licked Shota's finger and answered the question seriously.

Who is your mother?

"Mom is sleeping."

The slime monster pointed to Mashiro sleeping in the box, then tilted its head and continued to look at Shota.

“Alright. You are the child of me, Taotie, and Mashiro, the slime. But…”

Shota emphasized, "First, I'm still a minor and can't impregnate a female. Second, Mashiro is a slime, and slimes reproduce asexually, that is, through fission. There's no way the two of us could have children. Besides, we haven't even had any mating."

"Slimes can become pregnant as long as they drink someone else's bodily fluids."

The slime monster pointed out the error in Shota's words.

"...Are you really my son?"

"Ah."

Shota pointed to the miniature Taotie that kept crawling out of the box and said, "Are those my sons too?"

"Ah."

"Daddy~" "Daddy~" "Daddy~"

"Stop messing with your old man!"

Shota suddenly shouted, "Mashiro, snap out of it! Stop playing this 'birthing play' game!"

"Waaah..."

After all the mini Taotie suddenly turned into water and slid back into the cardboard box, Shiro's head slowly emerged, cautiously looking at Shota, and let out a mournful cry.

"Alright, alright. Let's stop making these kinds of jokes. I don't want to be a dad every time I come home."

Shota patted Mashiro's head and said, "Got it?"

"understood……"

Mashiro nodded, realizing her mistake.

"But that sorcery you just used was really powerful. Did you learn it recently?"

"Mmm. After my brother came back just now, a 'ding' sound suddenly popped into my head, and then I learned it..."

Shota smiled and didn't ask anything. He was about to say goodnight when he noticed that Mashiro seemed to have something she was reluctant to say.

"What's wrong? What are you holding back?"

"Um...brother...I'm about to give birth."

"Given birth?" Shota didn't react immediately and asked, "Given what?"

"Split, create new slimes..."

Slimes reproduce by fission. As long as they are not frequently broken up and have enough nutrients, they can almost divide indefinitely. Moreover, given Mashiro's age, it would be strange if she waited until now to initiate her first division.

Then, Mashiro will become two smaller Mashiro, and those two smaller Mashiro will split into four even smaller Mashiro, four will become eight, eight will become sixteen...

So many little soft things...

Shota's mind conjured up images of himself being crawled all over by 1024 miniature Mashiro. The 1024 cries of "Brother" seemed to resonate with him, making his ears ring. Every day, he would accidentally step on a few Mashiro while walking, shake off a few when he jumped, and accidentally have Mashiro run into his food and be swallowed while he was eating...

True White Hell...

"Snapped."

Shota solemnly pressed down on Mashiro's shoulder and said, "You have to endure it, you absolutely must endure it. You've endured it for thirty years, what's another thirty? There are some things you absolutely cannot break the first time you break the taboo. Once you become addicted to splitting, you'll never be able to hold back again!"

"But, but..."

Mashiro looked troubled and said with a strange expression, "I really want to split... something is about to come out."

"You must hold back, you must hold back!"

Shota guessed that it was probably because she drank alcohol that night that she suddenly had these split thoughts. It seems that Mashiro should never be allowed to drink alcohol again.

"I can't take it anymore..."

"Ah! If you dare to split, I'll eat you up!"

"Please, please eat me..."

"……asshole!"

Without saying a word, Shota carried the box to Mashiro and took her to the bathroom. He then turned on the tap and started filling the bathroom with water. Although he didn't know if this would make her endure it a little longer, he was really at a loss and could only do whatever came to mind.

He didn't want to live under the shadow of Infinite Shiro every day from now on.

"Wow—"

"Ugh... I can't hold it in anymore..."

Mashiro looked up at Shota. Something seemed to be surging out of his water-like body, but Mashiro pushed it back in.

"Calm down, calm down."

Shota took a few deep breaths and asked, "Has this ever happened before?"

"Every two years..."

"How did you manage to endure it before..."

"My brother and father used their demonic energy to scare me so badly I fainted..."

Is it true that fainting interrupts spellcasting?

Shota hesitated for a moment. He really couldn't bring himself to scare Mashiro into fainting, so he asked again, "Is there any other way?"

"If my brother licks me like he used to... like he used to, I won't have this split personality."